I don't think I look like Edward "Ned" Alleyn, a British actor, one of the major characters of Elizabethan theater.

Edward left this world in 1626.

Nevertheless, it sure was entertaining to break from work to play with the hottest new app to hit the nation since, well, Tinder.

Not that I know anything about Tinder.

Millions of Americans in the past week have downloaded the free Google Arts & Culture app. To play the game, scroll down till you see "Is your portrait in a museum?"

My Facebook feed has been crammed with friends' alleged matches.

Here's how it works: download the app; take a selfie; then, through some type of facial recognition program, your face is matched with three or four faces — portraits, actually — that hang in museums and art galleries around the world.

Those matches typically draw three reactions:

One: That sorta looks like me.

Two: That sorta looks like me — after a heavy night of drinking and having my face kicked in during a bar fight.

Three: It looks just like me — if I were "a zombie baby."

Those are the words of my colleague Jackie Rehwald. Yes, she said "zombie baby."

No matter how many times she tried taking a new selfie, she was repeatedly matched with Willem II, who was the sovereign Prince of Orange and died of smallpox in 1650 at age 24. He looks like he might already be dying in his portrait.

Reporter Jackie Rehwald does not see the resemblance to "Zombie Baby," also known as Willem II.(Photo: Google app)

According to the Chicago Tribune, Google released its Arts & Culture app in November 2015. It includes collections from more than 1,000 museums and art galleries worldwide.

But it exploded only after the selfie feature was added about a month ago. That's when this nation took notice, rose up in unison and proclaimed:

"Someone say 'selfie'?"

But Google then dropped the app in Illinois and Texas, which happen to be the two states with restrictive laws regarding something called "biometrics privacy."

Increasingly, biometric identification is used for identification and security purposes — so employers, for example, can prove that you are who you say you are and can let you into secured areas that you are approved to enter.

So, in theory, some devious person who steals your biometric face can then get into those same restricted areas.

According to the Tribune, because Illinois has a biometric privacy law, it has become a hotbed of legal activity surrounding biometric data.

One primary cause of these actions is that Google allegedly broke the Illinois law by failing to notify users that the company had created a face template based on their photos.

Illinois law mandates that companies must detail to prospective users how they will use the data and how long it will be kept, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The law also allows private citizens to sue, while other states have laws that only allow the attorney general bring a lawsuit.

Nest, a company that makes smart thermostats and doorbells, sells a doorbell with a camera that recognizes visitors. However, Nest does not offer that doorbell feature in Illinois because of the biometrics law.

Both the Chicago Tribune and NPR — where I first heard this story on Thursday — have concluded it's likely Google dropped the app in Illinois and Texas out of a concern for possible lawsuits. Google won't say why it dropped the app in those two states.

The NPR story points out that the Google app has a disclaimer: It states how the facial-recognition data will be used and how long it will be stored. To proceed, users have to indicate they've read the waiver and want to continue:

"Google won't use data from your photo for any other purpose and will only store your photo for the time it takes to search for matches."

Buy Photo

The Google app requires the user to first OK this page.(Photo: Jackie Rehwald/News-Leader)

This step should relieve any privacy concerns and legal challenges, right?

Not necessarily, says Matthew Kluger, a law professor at Northwestern University, according to the NPR story.

He points out that someone might — with good, playful intentions — run a friend's photo through the app without approval from that friend.

In effect, that means the friend has allowed Google to receive, however briefly, a digital map of his/her face.

Another concern is what might happen to stored data regarding facial mapping should Google file for bankruptcy, according to the NPR story.

"So maybe you trust Google with certain data, but for Google to hand that data off to someone else, you wouldn't trust them," Kluger told NPR.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, based in San Francisco, takes a dim view of the collection of biometric data for security purposes.

The foundation, according to its website, "is the leading nonprofit defending civil liberties in the digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF champions user privacy, free expression and innovation ... We work to ensure that rights and freedoms are enhanced and protected as our use of technology grows."

The organization does not directly address the new Google app, but it sure puts a damper on how much fun we've all been having this past week.

The foundation's main concern is what government — as in Big Government — might do with the information.

"The privacy risks that accompany biometrics databases are extreme.

"The government insists that biometrics databases can be used effectively for border security, to verify employment, to identify criminals, and to combat terrorism. Private companies argue biometrics can enhance our lives by helping us to identify our friends more easily and by allowing us access to places, products, and services more quickly and accurately.

"Biometrics’ biggest risk to privacy comes from the government’s ability to use it for surveillance. As face recognition technologies become more effective and cameras are capable of recording greater and greater detail, surreptitious identification and tracking could become the norm."

You never had to worry about crazy stuff like this. All you had to fret over was the bubonic plague.

These are the views of News-Leader columnist Steve Pokin, who has been at the paper 5½ years, and over his career has covered everything from courts and cops to features and fitness. He can be reached at 836-1253, spokin@gannett.com, on Twitter @stevepokinNL or by mail at 651 N. Boonville, Springfield, MO 65806.